Heinrich Himmler's Speech at Poznan (Posen)

"we're eliminating the Jews,exterminating them,ha!, a small matter."

On October 4, 1943, Reischsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler gave a
speech to a secret meeting of SS officers, in Poznan, Poland. In
this speech, he spoke frankly about the ongoing extermination of the
Jewish people.

This is one of the most chilling documents of the Holocaust.

The Holocaust History Project has prepared an audiovisual
presentation, in QuickTime movie format. The text of the original
German and translated English is displayed as the audio record
plays. That movie, and this accompanying background information, is
made available for students, researchers, or anyone interested in
this historic document.

The movie begins with with a brief (40-second) introduction
giving some background for the speech. Himmler was speaking from his
notes, in a private session to SS officers in occupied Poland. Of
the three-hour speech, only the five and a half minutes presented in
this movie concerns the destruction of the Jews.

The German and English text scrolls by as Himmler speaks, so
English speakers can understand his meaning.

What you are hearing

To understand what Himmler is saying in this five and a half
minutes, it may help to read a quick outline of his meaning. This
paraphrase may perhaps be too colloquial, but the structure may aid
understanding:

A. I will talk openly about difficult secrets
1. The "Night of the Long Knives" (June 30) was difficult too
2. But we naturally knew to keep it secret
3. Everyone knew his duty
B. The "Jewish evacuation" is the extermination of the Jews
C. Some take it too lightly
1. Some want to make exceptions for "good Jews"
2. They have not witnessed the killing and the corpses
3. We've seen it, we're strong, it is our secret glory
D. The Jews would cripple Germany, so this is important
1. The Jews betrayed us in the First World War
E. The Jewish riches are all for the State
1. We (individuals) do not take them
2. A few have, and they have been executed
3. Anyone who does, will be executed
4. We have a duty to kill, but no right to profit
5. Jewish riches would infect us
6. We do this
for love of Germany, not for personal gain
7. So we remain strong and pure

Going strictly by the text, Himmler's point in mentioning the
then-ongoing Holocaust was clear. He was encouraging his officers,
whose men were perpetrating the murders, to enforce a policy of
zero-tolerance of stealing from the victims. Along the way, he
emphasized the importance of both secrecy and ruthlessness in this
operation.

But there is a subtext here, too. By describing this operation
openly before this closed session, Himmler ensured that his audience
was implicated in the crimes as well. It is a well-understood
technique of persuasion to spread around guilt. Just as gangs are
said to force new members to commit a serious crime, Himmler was
making sure that everyone listening knew they were all in it
together.

The importance of that bond is evident from his frequent
references to secrecy, and the distinctions between "us" (decent,
hard, glorious, with a self-evident "tact" for keeping secrets) and
"them" (the unworthy SS men, sick, failed, and executed).

It is also questionable whether "most" of those officers present
had seen 100, 500 or 1000 victims' corpses. Whether that statement
was true or not, anyone listening who had not taken part in the
killing would be made to feel in the minority, and thus, Himmler
probably hoped, less likely to speak out about the horrors that
were being perpetrated.

Comments of Interest

was the Polish name for the
town where the meeting was held. Posen was the name the Germans gave
it when, in 1939, they invaded and took over the western half of
what is now Poland. Both names are correct.

June 30: Everyone listening at the time would have known
that "June 30" referred to "The Night of the Long Knives" in 1934.
On that date, Hitler ordered the arrest and execution of Ernst
Roehm, the leader of the SA, and at least 77 of his fellow
"traitors," because he was afraid Roehm would try to lead that
organization against the Nazi government.

Himmler is here comparing the difficult task of purging the Nazi
Party of a perceived traitor to the mass murder of millions of Jews.
Either way, he is saying, an officer or a soldier must do as he is
commanded, and keep silent.

Aus...schaltung: As Himmler mocks Germans who treat the
extermination too lightly, he mimics them saying "Aus...schaltung
der Juden, Ausrottung, machen wir" ("elimination of the Jews,
extermination, is what we're doing"). His hesitation in the middle
of the word "Ausschaltung" ("elimination") seems to be a quick
mental verification that it is okay to use both words, since he is
speaking in private.

This is reminiscent of a moment in the famous, and very public,
"total war" speech by Joseph Goebbels in the Berlin Sportpalast on
February 18, 1943, where he began to say "Ausrottung des Judentums"
("extermination of Jewry") but quickly switched to "Ausschaltung."
The result, which can be heard in
this brief MP3,
was something like "Ausrott...schaltung des Judentums"
("exterm...elimination of Jewry").

A laugh? After Himmler makes his sarcastic remark about
some Germans thinking they know a "first-class Jew," one can hear
what sounds like a laugh from the audience. A few moments later,
there is a similar sound. In our opinion, it is difficult to
determine either sound with certainty. It might also be a cough (by
Himmler or from the audience), or perhaps something near the
microphone being moved. The timing is unfortunate, however, and at
least the first noise certainly sounds like a laugh.

"[judged]": German verbs appear at the ends of sentences,
and when spoken sentences get too complex, sometimes verbs get left
off. Himmler never actually says the verb in this sentence. His
intended meaning, however, is obvious.

About the recording

The speech was recorded either on phonograph-style discs or on
tape. Richard Breitman writes (in The Architect of
Genocide, 1991, p. 242) that "red oxide tape" was used by
Himmler later in the war. But Breitman's source for this information
is not given.

most of the original recordings had been made with
pairs of disc recording machines... all of the material was
re-recorded on tape.

The Himmler recordings were not only the most numerous of the
items in the collection (over 500 of the original discs and
tapes)...

There is a faint before-and-after echo that can be heard at loud
portions of the speech, most notably when Himmler shouts "gnadenlos"
("mercilessly"). This is from the magnetic impressions bleeding
through two or three layers of tape on a reel, and indicates that a
source for our recording spent some years on tape. Whether that is
Himmler's original tape or the National Archives' master tape made
in the 1970s is, at this time, unknown.

Copies of this recording can be ordered by writing to the
National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Note to researchers: as
of this writing (March 2004), not all of Record Group 242 is
searchable online.

Questions?

Do you have questions about the Himmler speech, our QuickTime
presentation of it, or the commentary on this webpage? Please feel
free to
email us.